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Stiff opposition to nuclear shipments

Sarnia Mike Bradley says protests and civil disobedience are possible if the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approves shipments of nuclear waste from the Bruce Power nuclear plant to Sweden this fall.

Bradley is attending a hearing Wednesday in Ottawa to oppose a plan to haul 16 scrapped generators with radioactive components across three Great Lakes.

Bruce Power Inc. of Kincardine needs licensing approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to take the shipment from Owen Sound on Lake Huron, past Sarnia to Lakes Erie and Ontario, the St. Lawrence River and across the Atlantic.

Bruce Power says the generators have been welded shut to prevent radioactive leaks. Each is the size of a school bus and weighs about 1,000 tonnes.

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, representing 80 municipalities, says shipping radioactive waste is too risky and want it left at the nuclear plant site.

"Our concern is for Great Lakes drinking water and radioactive contamination of our waterways," Bradley said.

But he and Sierra Club executive director John Bennett don't hold out much hope the commission will listen.

Bennett is scheduled to speak first at the two-day hearing.

"I want the hearing adjourned and an environmental assessment called," he said. "Shipping 1,600 tonnes of nuclear waste halfway around the world is a major deviation from the approved plan and should require revisiting the environmental assessment."

The 2006 EA for the nuclear plant refurbishment stated all waste would be stored on-site until a deep geological repositor y was available. Bradley agreed a new environment assessment is needed but neither he nor Bennett have much hope.

"The commission's staff said this summer that there's no reason not to grant a licence to ship to Sweden. I won't be surprised if this is just rubber stamped," Bennett said.

He said he can recall only one time when the commission didn't rule in favour of industry.

"The regulator and the group they regulate seem extremely cozy," said Bradley.

Bradley said he anticipates a public outcry if the commission quickly approves the shipment.

"The Mohawk Council of the Akwesasne say they will take action if (the commission) decides to do this," Bradley said. "I think the federal government, at their peril, will allow this to proceed given the nature of the interventions and where they are coming from."

The he commission only agreed to this week's public hearings after widespread protest from environmental groups and municipal governments, Bradley said.

"They had no intention of having any hearings. They were just going to go ahead and do this. There was no process. We see this meeting in Ottawa as something of a victory."

The fact 77 groups are making submissions today and Wednesday shows the degree of opposition, Bennett said.

"I can't remember any time in the past when so many people became concerned about something so quickly," he said.